Fulham's trip to Manchester City saw Ryan Sessegnon recalled by Slavisa Jokanovic to the starting XI, with the head coach trusting his 18-year-old at the home of the champions.

He hadn't started since the 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, where he was played out on the right and tasked with dropping into a back six next to Timothy Fosu-Mensah while also trying to attack Ben Davies.

Sessegnon did fairly well - he found himself in some good positions and almost scored, but Hugo Lloris' rapid speed from his line stopped the youngster grabbing his first Premier League goal.

But then, the wonderkid was put on the bench, with Luciano Vietto starting up top with Andre Schurrle and Aleksandar Mitrovic, while Maxime Le Marchand Joe Bryan were the left back choices.

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It led to disbelief from some quarters - after 16 goals last season in the Championship, how could Sessegnon not start for Fulham?

The answer, for some, was that Jokanovic had dropped him. That he wasn't ready for the Premier League. He was too young.

None of which are correct.

Jokanovic trusts his young wonderkid - he played in every game in the Championship last season and started the first two games of this campaign before being recalled for the biggest test of them all: Manchester City.

Ryan Sessegnon of Fulham and Raheem Sterling of Manchester City battle for the ball (Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

He faced off against another young man who has had to deal with the pressure of being billed as one of the best youngsters in the world in Raheem Sterling, and in parts did very well against the England international.

But the pressures placed on young English players mean they are added scrutiny when they don't perform how everyone is expecting them to.

Sessegnon had a fairly solid game, there were positives, like where he was able to stop Sterling with a perfect challenge and the time he went shoulder to shoulder with Kyle Walker and put the right back on his backside, but there were negatives to take from the game too, he dived in at Sterling when he was never going to get the ball which could've easily led to a goal.

(Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

After the game, Jokanovic was asked how big the benefit of playing Sessegnon at the Etihad would be to the 18-year-old.

"Huge" was the reply.

"It's a huge benefit for him, we are talking about Ryan and I defend the opinion about this player to be part of the national team for the World Cup.

"Behind him is 100 games in the Championship and now it's time to play in these places.

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"I will repeat, the benefits are huge and he is not small kid, he's part of the game and part of the profession is win one, draw one and lose the game.

"Unfortunately we didn't surprise them today and if you analyse the game, Ryan play good game and I believe it's good for him and for his development and for his experience."

We could've seen two of the brightest young prospects in England face off one another, but while Jokanovic will continue playing Sessegnon, one player who perhaps should be playing but isn't is Phil Foden.

Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden celebrate winning the Premier League title (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Only ten days separate the two players in age, but while Sessegnon has played 6206 minutes of senior football, with 287 of those coming in the top flight this season, Foden has played just over 300, with only eight to his name this season.

Pep Guardiola was asked about Foden after the Fulham game - with the side 3-0 and cruising against the west Londoners, the youngster still didn't get any game time.

"I feel guilty," Guardiola said.

"He deserves to play. The problem was the injury to Sergio Aguero, we didn't want to take a risk.

"Phil Foden will play a lot of games this season - I feel it.

"The guys after the game were so tired, we have games, games, games, he's going to play. I like him a lot. Every time he plays, he plays so good.

The story of the two shows the story of young English footballers in the Premier League - with one breath, there are questions over whether Sessegnon is too young to start in the top flight, while in the other, there's outrage that Foden isn't playing more regularly.

It's a problem facing English football in general - players are looking abroad now to get first team football, with Jadon Sancho swapping City for Borussia Dortmund, a move that has seen him start regularly in the Bundesliga.

But the problem goes deeper than just managers - towards the end of Jokanovic's press conference he was asked whether it's too early for an 18-year-old to have an impact on the Premier League.

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"No" came the response from Jokanovic, who went on to reiterate the benefit of playing Sessegnon in games like the City one.

And it's true - Sessegnon doesn't need to play in every game and at 18, won't have an effect on every single game he plays, but playing him in the Premier League will only make him a better player as each minute of top level football passes by.

Foden's potential is like Sessegnon's and Sancho's - the world is their oyster, but it needs to take someone like Jokanovic and Lucien Favre to give them the time on the pitch to continue their development.

It doesn't help that they're expected to light the world on fire immediately.

Sessegnon scored 16 goals last season and had an extraordinary campaign, but he was never going to do that this season.

Like most of the Fulham side, he's never played in the Premier League and would find himself up against players like Sterling and Walker, players who have played and won at the highest level.

To think Sessegnon is 'overrated' or 'not performing how he should be' is a dangerous and naive mindset to take, and one that people seem to be taking after five games of the season.

(Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Since making his debut for Jokanovic back in 2016, Sessegnon's learning curve has been huge and that will only increase in the Premier League.

But what is best for Sessegnon is that his head coach backs him to the hills.

"It's my opinion he should have been part of the national team for the World Cup," said Jokanovic after the game. "He has handled games in the Championship, and now it is time to play games in this type of place."

The club and the youngster were right to ignore interest from Spurs this summer - with Jokanovic at the helm of Fulham, Sessegnon will continue to play at Wembley, the Etihad and Old Trafford for the foreseeable future.